§ *THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRYMy Lords, I venture to ask your indulgence while I bring under your notice a matter concerning which I wish to make a personal explanation. I am sorry to occupy your time, but after the statements which have been made with reference to myself by the hon. Member for Sunderland (Mr. Storey), on Thursday last, you will admit that I am fully justified in not allowing them to pass unnoticed and unchallenged, especially as those statements included the names of several other people who, on account of their position, are unable to reply for themselves. I would have brought this matter forward on Friday last, but, in the first place, I was anxious to obtain a 374 copy of the local paper which would contain a full report of the speech of the hon. Member for Sunderland; and therefore I got a copy of Mr. Storey's own paper, which can devote more space to the speeches of a politician of the calibre of Mr. Storey than can the London papers. I further wished to obtain the fullest information with respect to the statement he made about myself from those who were best in a position to give it. This information has immensely strengthened my belief in the opinion generally held—that when a man has succeeded in making himself sublimely ridiculous, he invariably attempts to shift the responsibility of his folly on to some one else's shoulders. Mr. Storey is no exception to the general rule. He has attempted to fix the responsibility of his own folly on to the shoulders of no fewer than five persons; one a policeman, whom he says he can summon, and four others, myself among them, the chief constable of the county, and two inspectors of police. The statement that Mr. Storey made on Thursday is due to the prosecution of him by the police for perjury in connection with some evictions which took place in February last at some collieries of mine called Silksworth, in the county of Durham. In alluding to this prosecution on Thursday last, Mr Storey said that—
It was a police prosecution ostensibly, but the police did not venture to take the money out of the county fund, as they had a right to do, but went to private persons and to the owner of the colliery, the Marquess of Londonderry, for money with which to prosecute him.And further on he said:—What is my remedy now? I could commence an action for damages against policeman Snaith. That is to say, that Colonel White, the two inspectors, and Lord Londonderry, who had combined in the matter, or found the money for conducting these criminal proceedings, would escape scot-free. I have no power over them, and if I have a remedy I could only go against the policeman.I am glad to take the first opportunity of contradicting most emphatically and flatly every word of Mr. Storey's statement. I was never approached myself and asked to provide money for this prosecution, nor was my agent, and I can assure your Lordships that I have not given a shilling towards it I therefore, as flatly and emphatically as is in my power, contra- 375 dict the statement of Mr. Storey. If I may venture to go further, and trespass on your Lordships' time, I will tell your Lordships what were the facts of the case. I need not enter at length into the evictions at Silks worth, for the simple reason that in March last I wrote a somewhat long letter to the Daily News on account of attacks which that paper had made upon me in connection with the evictions, and I am bound to say that in one of their leading articles within the next few days they gave me a fair and full apology. Mr. Storey came down for the purpose of attending these evictions, on February 20, and proceeded to a house known as Newport Farm, which is my own private property. He insisted on entering that house, in which, at the time, there were certain policemen and two inspectors named Oliver and Burrell. They requested him to leave the house, and on his refusing to do so they very properly ejected him into the street. On this he instituted a prosecution against the police on the ground of assault. I instructed my agent to render those policemen every possible assistance in the way of obtaining legal aid to defend them. In consequence the charge against one policeman was dismissed with costs against Mr. Storey, and Mr. Storey very wisely withdrew the charge against the other. Now, my Lords, I am glad of the opportunity which Mr. Storey has afforded me of expressing to you the opinion of those qualified to give it, that they regarded with sincere admiration the conduct of the police during the disturbances which took place at Silksworth. They said that the police displayed a moderation and a toleration which entitled them to the highest praise. But for that moderation and that toleration serious consequences might have ensued, and had these consequences taken place there is no impartial person who would have held Mr. Storey absolutely irresponsible. I thank your Lordships most sincerely for the manner in which you have allowed me to make this personal explanation, and for the indulgence you have accorded me. I trust that I have explained and proved to your Lordships that the statement made in the House of Commons on Thursday last is synonymous with the name of the man who made it, and that man is the hon. Member for Sunderland.